Broken Angel
by akiraflame-tumblr
Summary: Tumblr prompt: "Broken wings" by Boyce Avenue. Bethyl, no ZA au.


**A/N: Another prompt for jazznsmoke!**

_**This prompt comes with a trigger warning for self-harm, depression, and death.**_

Daryl heaved a sigh and looked at his watch again. Hershel, Beth, and Maggie were supposed to be meeting him for dinner soon. Maggie and Hershel Greene had grown close to Daryl because of the younger Greene daughter. They considered him part of their family. The two also pressured him to tell Beth that he loved her and break her and her boyfriend, Zach, up but he couldn't do it. Zach treated Beth the way she deserved to be treated.

It was obvious the young man loved the blonde Greene with his entire being. He respected her, cared for her. She deserved that, so Daryl left them alone. It was true, what Maggie and Hershel said. He did love the blonde, he had for quite a while now but she had been dating Zach for nearly two years now, longer than he, Daryl, had known her.

The hunter looked back at his watch and frowned. They were late. He checked his phone to make sure that he hadn't missed a call or text that said they were late or couldn't make it but there was nothing. He clicked on the messages from Beth to reread them and make sure he had read the place and time correctly. He had.

_I've got some AMAZING news! Daddy and Maggie are with me, I need to share the news with them as well and want to do so in one sitting, can we all do dinner? The diner on Main at 6 okay?_ She had asked and he had responded with a simple "_yes, see you then." _

Daryl sat in the diner with his cup of coffee for another thirty minutes, his impatience waning into concern. The concern turning into panic. Hershel would never have let Beth be this late. The older Greene was on time or early to everything, even impromptu dinners. Daryl hit the call button and held the phone to his ear. The phone rang several times before going to Beth's voicemail.

"_Hey, this is Beth, leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I ca-Daryl, stop it! I'm making my new voicemail greeting!" _The greeting amused Daryl for a moment, temporarily lifting his concern and panic as he remembered how he had been teasing and tickling the blonde and ignored her pleas for him to stop. He hung up the phone call and was about to try calling Maggie when his phone vibrated with a phone call. From Beth. A breath of air left Daryl's lungs as relief coursed through him and he quickly answered the call.

"Hey, Beth, where…" he started but he paused when Rick's voice interrupted him.

"Daryl, I was….I was about to call. I just got here…" Rick took a deep, shaky breath and the sound of it coming to Daryl made him stand. He threw money down on the table to pay for his coffee and he quickly ran outside to his truck.

"Rick? What's happened? Where's Beth?" There was a long moment of silence and Daryl gripped his steering wheel tightly.

"There…there was an accident, Daryl. Hershel, Maggie, Zach…they're all….they're gone…" The hunter sat frozen in his seat and he felt everything crash around him. Accident? Hershel? Maggie? Zach?

"Wh-what? This is a sick joke, Grimes. You know better than anybody…"

"I'm not joking, Daryl! Look, Zach…he was driving the car….he was speeding and he ran a red light…Beth's….she's in bad shape….They're taking her to the hospital now, I told them to expect you. She's going to need you. You're…you're all she's got right now. I'm going to go pick up Lori and the kids; we'll be over there as quickly as we can be." Daryl didn't need to be told twice. He started his truck and raced to the hospital. In what felt like a blink of an eye but also three weeks, Rick and his family were there with him and the small group waited.

And waited. Judith fell asleep in Daryl's arms, her head on his shoulder.

And waited. Carl fell asleep against his father's shoulder.

And fucking waited. Lori fell asleep on Rick's other shoulder.

And still, they waited. For anything. A word. A sign. Anything to say whether Beth was going to make it.

Until finally…._finally_, a doctor in surgical scrubs approached the sleeping family.

"Sheriff, Daryl," the man greeted them. "Beth is out of surgery now. She's still in critical condition, but you can go visit her." With gentle nudges, the family moved to Beth's hospital room.

And that is where they camped until Beth's blue eyes opened.

It didn't take her long to remember what had happened and to figure out where the rest of her family was.

And the guilt ate away at her.

Time crept by slowly, then at a race. Beth recovered and went home, to the Greene farm by herself. They buried her family. They buried her boyfriend. She cried. For almost a year, she rarely left home. Until one day, she smiled. Then laughed. Daryl began to see the old Beth again. They spent as much time together as they could and the hunter could see she was recovering. She was healing.

Or so he thought.

Daryl pulled his boots off and dropped onto his couch with a happy sigh. He was ready for the next two hours to pass. Beth was going to come over for dinner and he couldn't wait to spend the evening with her. Every day they hung out, he could see the strength in her. God, he was envious of that strength. Losing Hershel, who had been like a father to him, had crushed Daryl. Losing Maggie, who had become that annoying sister who teased him relentlessly, had made him drink an entire month away. Losing Zach, who had become an awkward friendship, had made him cry.

He couldn't imagine how losing all three of them had felt for Beth.

The ringing of his phone pulled his attention and he smiled at the sight of the picture of him and Beth flashing on the screen with the words _Beth Calling_.

"Hey," he greeted, only to be met with silence. The silence made Daryl think to exactly a year ago, the last time he had heard silence like this on the phone.

A year ago.

Daryl squeezed his eyes shut and let out a mumbled "_fuck!_" he had known that today marked the anniversary but he had pushed it to the back of his mind at work because Beth was recovering. She was healing. He thought she would be okay.

"I'm a fucking _idiot_, Beth. I'm on my way, okay? Babe?" a sob carried through the phone and Daryl felt his concern grow.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Daryl. I…I can't. I can't pretend anymore. I can't hide behind a smile anymore, not when I'm dying inside. They're gone, and it's my fault!" Daryl felt his heart shatter and her hurriedly pulled his boots back on and grabbed his truck keys.

"No, it wasn't your fault, Beth. Accidents happen." Part of him wanted to tell the blonde that it was really _Zach's _fault but he knew that him saying that wouldn't help anything.

"_No, _it was my fault, Daryl! I told Zach my good news, the news I was going to share with everyone at the diner that night…I told him before hand and…he got so mad. That's why he was speeding. Daddy couldn't calm him down and if I spoke, he just got angrier." Beth let out another sob. "I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry, Daryl, I'm sorry. There's no point anymore. Not for me."

Her words made Daryl freeze in his tracks, one leg in his truck.

"Beth, babe, listen to me. I'm on my way, okay? Just….talk to me, don't…" the hunter swallowed the lump in his throat and pushed himself to move faster, climbing into his truck and buckling his seat belt before stomping on the accelerator and racing to the Greene Farm.

"No, I can't be here alone anymore. I can't be here with their things, with Maggie's wedding dress still hanging to dewrinkle and Glenn calling everyday in tears. I can't deal with this pain any longer…." A gasp came through the phone followed by a clattering sound. "I-I can't…I'm sorry…." Beth's voice cracked and Daryl put more pressure on the accelerator. Beth's sobs turned into hiccups.

"Beth, babe, you're not alone. I'm here. I'll move in with you or you can move in with me. Jesus, you shoulda talked to me sooner about this…." His words were met with silence and fear clawed at his stomach. "Beth? Beth!"

"Oh god…Daryl…." There was a loud crashing sound and Daryl felt his heart stop.

"Beth?! What did you do?" The hunter skid onto the gravel driveway to the Greene Farm and raced the length of it to the house, jumping out as soon as his truck was parked, his phone tight in his hand and to his ear as he listened to Beth's sobs get softer.

"BETH?!" he hollered into the empty and quiet house.

"Upstairs…bathroom…." Her voice whispered into the phone and he took the steps three at a time in his rush to get to her. He had to kick the door open because she had locked it. The sight that greeted him nearly killed him, he was sure of it. Blood covered the bathroom floor and the blonde lay in the largest puddle of it. Beth had slit her wrist. Daryl moved quickly, wrapping her wrist in a towel and calling 911.

"It's…my fault….." she whispered after Daryl hung up. His blue eyes met her unfocused eyes and he felt his throat closing. "I'm….a broken…."

"Angel, no, listen to me. Beth, princess, I need you to stay with me." He watched in horror as her eyes began to close. "No, no, Beth, dammit! I love you, I need you here, with me!"

"They…left me…" Beth's skin was turning pale and her pulse was weakening under Daryl's fingertips and he had never felt so useless before in his life. 

"They did, but they didn't want to, Beth! They're up there watching you, right now, and they don't want you to join them. Not yet! Please, Beth, please!" Sobs began to rise in Daryl's chest and he struggled to catch his breath around them. "It's not your fault, Beth, _None _of it. Just, please…don't leave me. I'll help you through this…I should have seen your pain. I should have been there. I'm sorry, Beth, please…I love you." Arms pulled Daryl away from the blonde and he felt a yell for her escape his throat, his hands blindly grasping her tightly.

"Sir, you have to let go of her," a female voice told him and he finally looked up, his brain registering the sight of the EMT beside him. He nodded mutely and moved out of the way so that the paramedics could do their job. He followed them numbly to the ambulance and then to the hospital.

Somewhere in his time of waiting, he called Rick, though he couldn't remember what he said or what happened. All he knew was that one minute he was alone and the next he was being shoved into the bathroom to change clothes by Rick, a panicked Lori behind him trying to soothe an upset Carl and Judith.

And just like a year ago, they waited.

The doctor's words were muffled when they finally came but Daryl heard enough to understand what he was saying. Tears blinded the hunter as he rocked back and forth in his seat, his shoulders shaking with each one.

"Come on," Rick told him, his hand helping to pull the distraught man to his feet and guide him back to a hospital room where a machine beeped out the faint heart beat of his broken angel and he thanked every god he could think of that the sound was there.

Hours, maybe days, he didn't know, later he met her eyes again. Both of their eyes full of shame and pain as they swore to take care of each other from that point on. He repeated those three words to her and she gave him a soft smile in return.

A few days later, Beth went home.

This time, Daryl went with her and he took everything he owned with him.

This time, Daryl was going to be there to help his broken angel heal properly.


End file.
